Myvillages organises and participates in
co-operative projects in various villages and rural landscapes around the world, with a focus on Europe. Many of the projects are trans-local and international, and stay close to the everyday practices in the places where they are organised: for instance a village shop, community lunches, walking across the fields, or a
film screening in a village hall. In general, the collective’s projects range from small-scale informal presentations to long-term collaborative research projects and permanent new cultural infrastructures. •
I Like Being a Farmer (2000–), an ongoing
bartering project in which farmers film their everyday work in return for an
oil painting. •
The Farm Drawings (2003–), a collection of drawings made during workshops, seminars and village hall meetings worldwide, where individuals sketch their memory of what a farm looks like. •
Bibliobox (2003–2013), a mobile archive with documents about rural contemporary art practices. •
The International Village Shop (2006–), a network of temporary shops in which goods are produced collectively with rural communities, and then traded across Myvillages’ rural and art world networks. •
Former Farmland (2008–09), which makes the agricultural history of land visible through tours, walks, drawing and story-telling. •
The Pantry Project (2011), in which food from 80 producers and growers in and around Berlin was collected and preserved during a year, to eventually feed a festival at the
House of World Cultures. •
Farmers and Ranchers (2012–2015), which brought together young cattle farmers from Friesland (NL) and Colorado (US) to experience and learn from each other's context in times of
climate change. •
Company Drinks (2014–) began as
Company: Movements, Deals and Drinks, an art project, exploring community making and commoning through collective and seasonal drinks production at the edge of Greater London. •
International Village Show (2015–16), a two year long exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Leipzig. •
Boerenzij – The Rural Side (2018–19), a project about existing but invisible rural cultures of traditional and migrant communities in South Rotterdam. •
The Rural School of Economics (2021–) grew out of the
Eco Nomadic School (2011–18) and is a multi-lingual travelling class-room that connects localised knowledge through informal and inter-generational learning. == Reception ==